'How Can America Pick a Man Like That?'

The shout broke a brief quiet inside a lounge of Denver's Sports Authority Field, where the Colorado GOP held its election-night watch party. Fox News had just officially announced that Obama won Ohio, and with it the nation. Karl Rove was another thing, but it was a short moment of quiet, as supporters here processed the fact that not only had the president won the race, but after millions of dollars of advertising and weekly traffic jams from the candidates' nonstop visits, Colorado ultimately did not matter in the final count.

"What is wrong with America?" one supporter murmured under his breath.

Debbie Cohen, 56, wept.

"I am deeply, deeply distressed. I have two grandbabies, and I look at this and I know there is no turning back," she said, through tears. "How can America pick a man like that? I have been through many, many elections, but I have never known the desperation that I know now. I feel devastated. I feel hopeless."

Cohen, a teacher, said she'll probably feel better tomorrow, but for now, she needs to grieve.

"I don't know where to go, except on my knees to God," she said.

Around her, Republican supporters described the the next four years under Barack Obama.

"I'll probably go broke. I'll lose both my businesses," said Kelsey Alexander. "I have a new business… with 50 employees and I don't know if it'll survive."

While Republicans in Colorado had come out in strong numbers compared to the Democrats in early voting, at the end of the night, after many had already left with news that Mitt Romney would not be the next president, supporters learned that even if Ohio hadn't decided the whole thing, there was no good news for Colorado either. The state would remain blue.

Mark Henze, 55, a bankruptcy attorney, said he has a friend who will lay off 50 employees this week with the news that Obama has scored another term.

"People will be laid off — and the young ones are the first to go!" he shouted.

Next to him, Dana Brown, 66, wearing a bright American Flag shirt, said, "Why don't we just call this a socialist country at this point?...I don't know how we recover from this."

Charlene Brooks has an MBA but said she is working two jobs in retail, because the economy is so bad. And it's exhausting, she said.

"I just feel stuck," said Brooks, 56, as the celebration in Ohio played on a screen in front of her. "I'm trying to survive and I'm tired. I don't know how long I can do this. It's physically draining."

Even before the results came in, voters anxiously watching television screens throughout the lounge, said they were bracing for possibly bad news and what it could mean for Colorado.

Jody Rodriguez, 51, said that under President Obama, the country would remain fractured.

"I don't feel like we're American citizens working alongside other American citizens anymore," she said. "There will be more rich versus poor, more division."

But at the end of the day, regardless of the outcome, she said, her hope is that the economy swings back.

"Win or lose, hopefully the country does get better," she said. "I want the country to be grand again."